1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a structure of absorbing impact energy using a non-metallic interior material arranged on the inside of a panel of a structural member of a vehicle body, and more particularly, to an absorption structure, in which impact energy exerted through a front pillar, a center pillar, a rear pillar, a roof side rail or like structural member of a vehicle body is absorbed by an energy absorber attached to a pillar garnish, a roof panel, a roof side garnish or like interior material arranged on the inside of the structural member to alleviate impact.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been disclosed a hollow pillar garnish arranged on the inside of a pillar to cover the pillar in order to alleviate or reduce impact exerted through the pillar and other vehicle body structural members having high rigidity at the time of vehicle crash. (See Japanese Utility Model Disclosure (KOKAI) No. 4-125953)
Incidentally, it is confirmed that a plurality of longitudinally and laterally arranged ribs can be also used for the absorption of energy by appropriately setting the rigidity. Thus, impact energy can be absorbed even by a structure having the pillar garnish and the ribs which are molded as one body such as to locate the ribs on the back side, i.e., the outside of the pillar garnish.
In case of forming the hollow pillar garnish, since a space necessary for the absorption of energy, i.e., a space of a size of 15 to 30 mm should be ensured by a hollow portion of the pillar garnish, the size of the pillar garnish is increased as a whole. When such a large pillar garnish is formed into the hollow pillar garnish by blow molding, the resultant hollow pillar garnish easily varies in thickness, and any stable absorbability of energy cannot be attained.
On the other hand, when the plurality of ribs are provided on the outside of the pillar garnish as one body, it is difficult to attain desired absorbability of energy due to many restrictions from the viewpoint of molding. In addition, the surface of the pillar garnish corresponding to the rib portions, i.e., the inside surface of the pillar garnish sometimes creates a strain in the form of a concavity or the like at the time of molding. In this case, since the inside surface of the pillar garnish is open to the view in a compartment to constitute the interior of the compartment, the strain thus created degrades the value of a product.